1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

SSC-50P letter &now have check engine light

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by rewinder, Nov 5, 2005.

  1. rewinder

    rewinder New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2004
    20
    0
    0
    Location:
    New Hampshire
    Well after 11 mo. of flawless operation, I got my SC-50P letter in mail Wad. and this afternoon I got the check engine light on dash when I started it. . Stopped and started (rebooted several times) but light remains. Drove 5mi home and after a couple hrs sitting, light comes on when I start.

    I was planning to call dealership Mon AM anyhow because of letter. Now, question is should I drive the car this weekend or not??? Except for the light, the car runs and operates normally. Any suggestions as to if I shoud use it tomorrow, of should I let it sit till I call the dealership?

    Thanks in advance--Paul
     
  2. Bill Merchant

    Bill Merchant absit invidia

    Joined:
    May 3, 2005
    4,096
    82
    13
    Location:
    USA | Oregon | Portland area | 97004 |
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    With only the light, it's hard to know. I'd err on the side of safety. Make sure your fuel filler cap is tight as that can trigger the light.
     
  3. rewinder

    rewinder New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2004
    20
    0
    0
    Location:
    New Hampshire

    Yes Bill. that's the first thing I did-- open and close the filler car-- no difference.
     
  4. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2003
    19,891
    1,193
    9
    Location:
    Nixa, MO
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    It's ok to drive with the CEL. But humor me and go out and make sure that your gas cap is screwed tight a click or two and go through 3 more start-up cycles.

    Doh...never mind.
     
  5. rewinder

    rewinder New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2004
    20
    0
    0
    Location:
    New Hampshire
    What the hey-- I'll go do it again now!!!!
     
  6. rewinder

    rewinder New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2004
    20
    0
    0
    Location:
    New Hampshire
    Did it-- no difference-- thanks
     
  7. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2003
    19,891
    1,193
    9
    Location:
    Nixa, MO
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    3rd times the charm!! :p
     
  8. rewinder

    rewinder New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2004
    20
    0
    0
    Location:
    New Hampshire
    I meant tried it three times, Made no difference-- light is still on Oh well....
     
  9. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2005
    9,810
    466
    0
    Location:
    MD
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    well, you have 2 things to consider. your convenience and that of the guy fixing your car. (you'll see in a second where this is going) you can go ahead and drive for the weekend and bring it in on monday. check engine light isn't immediately urgent. the bad thing here though, is that you'll clear all the codes after a few restarts and that may hamper service on the car.

    my husband has a car now that has had intermittent cel showing up, but all codes were cleared from memory after a number of restarts. he said he'd keep it and dog on it till it was fixed right. he's put 80 miles on it waiting and waiting for that stupid light to show back up and hasn't seen it yet.

    just a bit of warning. most places and most techs aren't quite that dedicated and will simply return the car saying "could not replicate problem" and you'll waste more of your time bringing the car back when it happens again.

    so it does kind of help to help out the guy who's going to be working on it by not clearing codes. however, if it's important that you have the car for the weekend, drive on and worry about the rest later.
     
  10. rewinder

    rewinder New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2004
    20
    0
    0
    Location:
    New Hampshire
    Well that makes sense-- I'll use my truck (at 1/4 the milage-lol) thanks
     
  11. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2003
    19,891
    1,193
    9
    Location:
    Nixa, MO
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    You could also run over to Autozone and they often have a scanner to pull codes for you...that way you could write down the code and probably find out what the problem is (here if nowhere else) and still have it for your tech come Monday and not have to suffer without the Prius all weekend!
     
  12. rick57

    rick57 Member

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2005
    572
    6
    0
    Location:
    Circleville, Ohio
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Just starting it up 3 times will not turn off the light,Evan. Certain systems need to go thru a specified drive cycle to monitor that system. For the Evap system ( gas cap is involved here ) the coolant and intake air temp must be within 13 degrees F. This also means to start the monitor,the vehicle needs to go thru a cold soak between tests. With Evap codes,it is very hard to recheck at the dealer unless the vehicle is left at least over night. And sometimes you need a couple of nights to be sure. This is where knowledge/experience takes over to say for sure the problem is cured, :) . And I know there are those that would want to just drive in,"fix my car" and be on thier way. Sometimes those are the hardest to be sure are fixed right the first time, :eek: .
     
  13. rewinder

    rewinder New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2004
    20
    0
    0
    Location:
    New Hampshire
    Hi Rick-- does that mean I can drive it around or not?? Am calling dealer tomorrow for SSC50p anyhow.
     
  14. hdrygas

    hdrygas New Member

    Joined:
    May 22, 2004
    3,650
    6
    0
    Location:
    Olympia Wa
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Rick, I have the ScanGage and allegedly I can read the codes. I have never tried it as I mainly use it as a driving aid monitoring coolant temp, RPM, load and gph. Would it be at all useful to read and write down the codes if I have a problem and find myself in a situation similar to this?
     
  15. Charles Suitt

    Charles Suitt Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2004
    1,637
    16
    0
    Location:
    Dallas TX
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    :) Howdy rewinder

    How about an update post when you have the SSC 50P completed. I just got my letter and plan to have the brake light switch done at the same time. There was a post on the SSC 50P last week which reported a problem which seemed to be the result of a dealer error in the programming. Another recent post on the ECM update indicated improved fuel economy.
     
  16. ozt

    ozt Junior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2003
    36
    0
    0
    Location:
    Irvine, CA
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    Just this morning I had the red triangle and the check engine light on the dash of my 04. I was just driving by a Toyota dealership :) so I broght it in for service. It didn't stall or anything. The lights just came on when I was about to start at the intersection. My ScanGauge was showing P3197 if I remember correctly. I'll check the service manual if there is any description. I took the ScanGauge out to avoid any unessasary speculation but I didn't have time to remove my EV button mod. :(

    Tosh
    Salsa 04 + EVb + ScanGauge
     
  17. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2003
    19,891
    1,193
    9
    Location:
    Nixa, MO
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Are you sure of the P3197 code? It may be, but when I tried to look it up I couldn't find that specfic DTC listed. I may, however, not be looking in the right place.
     
  18. ozt

    ozt Junior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2003
    36
    0
    0
    Location:
    Irvine, CA
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    Just got a call from the dealership saying the triangle and the CHL were indeed related to the SSC. When I get the car back, I'll re-check the DTC code which is supposed to be stored in the flash memory in the ScanGauge. I looked into the service manual but all I found about P319x codes are:
    P3190: engine output malfunction
    P3191: engine cannot start
    P3193: low power (out ot gas)
    These code are in the Japanese service manual so they may not be the same as US version. (I dont' have access to it now.)

    Tosh
    Salsa 04 + EVb + ScanGauge (19700 miles, 44.3 mpg)
     
  19. ozt

    ozt Junior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2003
    36
    0
    0
    Location:
    Irvine, CA
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    Got my car back from the dealership. Unfortunately, they cleared the code (of course they did) and the ScanGause did not save it in the flash. The paperwork says "POP3191, POAOF, C2311" was reported from the hand tester (somebody can decode the rest?). I may have misread it but it does not match the description in the service manual "P3191: engine cannot start" because I was able to drive the car normally. Still a mystery.

    As for the reprogramming, I have yet to feel any difference. According to some Japanese sites, the new ECU uses the HV battery "more aggressively". This should give slightly better MPG to ordinary drivers. All the Japanese Prius MPG wizzards are now trying to adapt their techniques to the new software. :p

    Tosh
    Salsa 04 + EVb + ScanGauge (19700 miles, 44.3 mpg)
     
  20. rick57

    rick57 Member

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2005
    572
    6
    0
    Location:
    Circleville, Ohio
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Sorry I don't check in as much as I used to,but here are some answers.
    The code p3197,I can't find at all. I think it probably was a P3191.
    As for the " Engine didn't start" code,the ECU's look to see if the gas engine starts in "X" seconds( 5-7 seconds I believe). Even if the engine does start in 10 seconds,the ECU's will still kick on the Malfunction light because it didn't start in the time it was supposed to.
    And as for the programming error with SSC 50P recalls, there maybe a glitch in the software update for the Diagnostic Tester. We techs are to use the previous version of software to reflash and only upate to the most resent version for 2006 Prius and Rav4 only.Toyota is still checking into that concern. :rolleyes: .